Policy for Play is at once a eulogy for the demise of an unfulfilled, wished-for future, and a statement of faith in the need for, and possibility of, resurrection.

The unfulfilled future is the Play Strategy for England which did not live long beyond its birth; the hope of resurrection resides in the belief of many play advocates, and certainly the author’s, that children’s ‘forgotten right’ to play can be secured only by a national, all-embracing policy (or strategy, the terms are used interchangeably) for play.

Policy for Play is Adrian Voce’s well-written account of the rationale for national play polices, and a detailed history of attempts to secure such a policy for England. It is an insider’s account, one that chronicles the twists and the turns, the ups and the downs, of this singular pursuit. Continue reading →

Independence of spirit begets independence of mind. Kill or constrict that spirit, then voice and action become stilted or stilled. Individuals, replete with verve and spirit succumb, or feel required to succumb, to institutional anaemia, one symptom of which is the valorisation of ‘pragmatism’ as the overarching, but unspoken, organisational value.

Pragmatism tends to be self-justifying. By its nature it lends itself to assessing each move or settlement as the only one ‘practically’ available. ‘We are where we are’ and where we are is here, a place not so much of our making, but a nifty accommodation with what we thought was possible. What was thought possible was already discounted goods because where pragmatism reigns supreme, other reference points are paled-out and diminished. Continue reading →